111 charged in Medicare scams worth $225 million
More than 700 law enforcement agents fanned out to arrest dozens of people accused of illegally billing Medicare more than $225 million. The arrests are the latest in a string of major busts in the past two years as authorities have struggled to pare the fraud that's believed to cost the government between $60 billion and $90 billion each year. Stopping Medicare's budget from hemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder partnered in 2009 to allocate more money and manpower in fraud hot spots. Thursday's indictments were for suspects in
They show that "health care fraud is not easy money," Holder said at a press conference in
A podiatrist performing partial toenail removals was among 21 indicted in
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Sachakov had been arrested last year on charges related to a separate scam. Sachokov denied the charges.
Authorities also busted three physical therapy clinics in
In
In total, nearly three dozen defendants were charged in
Thursday's totals exclude busts two days earlier in
"These unprecedented operations send a clear message. We will not tolerate criminals lining their pockets at the expense of Medicare patients and taxpayers,"
For decades, Medicare has operated under a pay-and-chase system, paying providers first and investigating suspicious claims later. The system worked when the agency was paying hospitals and institutions that couldn't close up shop and flee the country if they'd been overpaid. But as Medicare has expanded to one of the largest payer systems in the world, he agency has struggled to weed out crooks. There are about 1.3 million licensed suppliers nationwide with 18,000 new applications coming in every month.
"We can arrest and charge people every day and it still won't make a dent until changes are made to Medicare," said FBI special agent in charge John Gillies.
He called for criminal background checks and fingerprints of providers. He also suggested Medicare use unique, secure numbers for patients instead of Social Security numbers, making it easier to cancel Medicare cards in fraud cases.
Sebelius has promised more decisive action on the front end, by vigorously screening providers and stopping payment to suspicious ones, under greater authority granted by the Affordable Care Act.
Authorities also announced Thursday they were adding strike forces in Chicago and Dallas.